Helping people to make change happen

Community Media

Social Spider was born through the creation of community media, where members of the general public create media for people like themselves.

We currently publish three not-for-profit local newspapers, the Tottenham Community Press, Enfield Dispatch and the Waltham Forest Echo. We created and ran a national magazine writer by people with mental health difficulties, for people with mental health difficulties for seven years. We’ve delivered young people’s participatory media projects. We’re excited about making media work for people in a period where local newspapers business models are collapsing. We believe that good factual media can change the world and that communities can make good media that serves their needs.

We are working to develop business models for community media that will ensure that communities that need them can find high quality journalism and information in ways that reflects the realities of their lives. We’re exploring the way that publications can be bootstrapped from scratch in communities that need them in the cheapest, most sustainable way.